Tag: corruption

Florida Attorney General Calls to Impeach Judge Who Acquitted Murderous Mother

Florida Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier is working to impeach a judge who acquitted a woman who pleaded insanity after murdering her baby.

Miguel de la O, a Miami-Dade circuit judge, acquitted Precious Bland after she drowned her 15-month-old in 2021, as well as stabbed her husband and another child, per Fox News.

Bland yelled during the incident that “Jesus Christ is coming and COVID is going to kill us all,” her husband told the police.

A police report said “the defendant insisted that everyone needed to be baptized and that she was going to baptize everyone in the bathtub.”

Police found the baby “face down, unresponsive, inside the bathtub filled with bloody water.”

The husband and four children ran out of the residence and called the police.

De la O ultimately acquitted Bland on all three counts she was facing — including one count of manslaughter and two counts of attempted murder in the first degree.

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Pete Hegseth Announces New Task Force to Identify and Prosecute Leakers 

War Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced a new task force to not only identify leakers, but to prosecute them. This is long past due.

This is a problem that has been coming up repeatedly since the first Trump administration. It will continue unless there are serious consequences.

There are simply too many people in Washington who think they are activists and will use this tactic to try to frustrate and disrupt the administration’s plans. They need to know that if they do this, they could end up in jail.

The Hill reports:

Hegseth announces joint task force to identify and prosecute leakers

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Monday that the Pentagon and the Justice Department (DOJ) have created a joint task force to identify and prosecute leakers as part of the department’s effort to clamp down on disclosure of sensitive information.

Hegseth said the Defense Department’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) will be able to request and receive all information, support and records across the Pentagon regarding news media leak investigations.

The Defense secretary said all of the department’s components and personnel will “prioritize” these requests and that any taskings issued by the OGC under the authority have to receive a “full and complete” response within two days of the requests being submitted.

“Leaked information risks lives. These new tools and processes will greatly assist us in protecting our joint force. The security of our nation cannot be a bargaining chip for those who seek momentary headlines,” Hegseth said in a roughly two-and-a-half-minute video which was posted on social platform X. “Access to confidential and secret information is a sacred trust, and those who betray that trust will be met with the full force of the law.”

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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Demands Ouster of NSC Intel Chief Adam Jones For Shutting Down Election Integrity Investigations: “Jim Clappers Guy Needs to Go”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) demands action from the White House as deep state sabotage continues inside the National Security Council.

Rep. Luna, who serves on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and chairs the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, has gone nuclear on a key National Security Council official she accuses of actively undermining President Trump’s core promises on election integrity and government transparency.

In a blistering post on X, Luna demanded that Adam Jones, identified as the Head of Intel at the NSC and allegedly tied to former Obama DNI James Clapper, be removed immediately.

“Adam Jones, Head of Intel at NSC, needs to go [White House].

He is the guy behind SHUTTING DOWN OFFICE SUPPORTING ELECTION INTEGRITY investigations NOT TO MENTION SLOW walking a lot of DECLASSIFICATION EFFORTS to include BLOCKING the 9/11 document release.

Jim Clappers guy needs to go.”

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Albanian Prosecutors Accuse Businessman Of Forgery In €110 Million Land Deal Backed By Jared Kushner

Albanian authorities have accused prominent businessman Artur Shehu of using forged property deeds to sell coastal land worth around €110 million ($126 million) for a luxury resort project backed by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors allege that Shehu employed counterfeit documents to assert ownership of the prime seaside property, which was acquired by developers linked to Kushner’s investment firm for the high-end resort development. In addition to the alleged forgery, Shehu faces charges of money laundering, drug trafficking, and building a real estate empire with proceeds from criminal activities, according to the authorities.

As part of the investigation, officials have frozen the proceeds from the land sale, blocking Shehu from accessing the funds.

Shehu has strongly denied the accusations. His lawyer stated that his client rejects all the allegations made against him.

The developers involved in the project said they believe the land purchase was conducted lawfully and expressed willingness to fully cooperate with any legal proceedings.

The case has drawn international attention due to its connection to Kushner’s business interests in the Balkans and raises fresh questions about due diligence in high-value foreign real estate investments.

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FBI Fires Husband and Wife Analysts Who Refused to Assist Georgia 2020 Election Investigation

The FBI has reportedly fired two intelligence analysts after they refused to participate in the bureau’s investigation into Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.

According to multiple reports, the Atlanta-based analysts, a husband and wife, told colleagues they did not believe the investigation was justified and declined to work on the case.

They were reportedly escorted from the FBI office after refusing the assignment.

The FBI did not confirm the firings but defended its decision.

“The FBI will always investigate credible allegations of matters related to federal elections,” an FBI spokesperson said.

“Every employee at this FBI is to uphold our mission and adhere to our standards, any deviation will not be tolerated.”

Earlier this month, the FBI assigned 260 investigative analysts to assist with its ongoing investigation into the fraud that took place in Fulton County, Georgia, during the 2020 presidential election.

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Trump DOJ Launches Grand Jury Investigation Into UAW President Shawn Fain – Allegedly Pressured Official to Secure Benefits for Fiancée and Sister

The Trump Justice Department has launched a federal grand jury investigation into United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain over serious allegations of abuse of power and self-dealing.

A grand jury has subpoenaed the UAW’s court-appointed monitor as part of the probe into claims that Fain pressured a high-ranking union official to secure benefits for his fiancée and her sister, CNBC reported.

The investigation follows a series of damning reports from the federal monitor documenting retaliation against top UAW leaders who pushed back on questionable spending decisions.

The culture of corruption has long plagued the United Auto Workers. Multiple former UAW presidents and top officials were convicted and sent to prison in one of the largest labor racketeering scandals in modern history, using members’ dues for luxury cars, golf trips, bribes, and personal enrichment.

The UAW was placed under a federal consent decree after the previous wave of corruption convictions. The monitor was supposed to clean house.

Shawn Fain ran for president as a so-called “reformer.” But the more things change at the UAW, the more they appear to stay the same.

The court-appointed monitor, Neil Barofsky, has repeatedly accused Fain of abusing his authority.

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New Mexico says US Justice Dept hindering probe of former Epstein ranch

New Mexico’s top law enforcement official on Thursday accused the U.S. Department of Justice of hindering the state’s investigation into ​Jeffrey Epstein by withholding unredacted files on the late sex ‌offender.

The Democratic-run state re-opened an investigation in February into activities at Epstein’s former ranch south of state capital Santa Fe, where he is accused of abusing women and ​girls for nearly three decades.

Nearly five months into the investigation, New ​Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez has yet to announce any ⁠results.

Political pressure to release U.S. Department of Justice files on Epstein has dogged ​President Donald Trump during his second term. He has suggested the country move on ​from investigating the late financier’s crimes.

In a June 30 letter, opens new tab to Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche, Torrez said the Justice Department had failed to respond to a state request ​in February for unredacted files containing names of Epstein survivors, witnesses, co-conspirators, ​and other individuals essential to the New Mexico probe.

In a statement on Thursday, Torrez said ‌the ⁠delay, which has now lasted 130 days, was “unreasonable under any rule of reason.”

In response, a U.S. Justice Department spokesperson said the agency responded to the New Mexico request in June.

“The DOJ reiterates that it welcomes New ​Mexico undertaking additional ​investigation of the ⁠Zorro Ranch and stands ready to provide necessary assistance with New Mexico’s investigation,” the spokesperson said, adding that ​the agency was ready to investigate and possibly prosecute ​any federal ⁠crimes the New Mexico investigation uncovered.

In March, Torrez said investigators faced significant obstacles in the Zorro Ranch probe. He cited the years that had passed ⁠since ​Epstein’s alleged crimes, possible deterioration or disappearance ​of evidence at the ranch which was sold in 2023, and possible jurisdictional issues surrounding any ​potential prosecutions.

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Prohibitionists Just Argued Themselves Into a Corner: To Stop Weed Reform, They Told a Court How Much Money They’d Lose

One of the loudest arguments against cannabis reform has always been about money. Legalizers are in it for the cash, prohibitionists have argued, and the science is just the wrapping paper. On July 2, in a filing before the D.C. Circuit, the Justice Department argued that the challengers’ alleged harms were commercial interests the CSA was never written to protect. Two of the groups trying to freeze marijuana rescheduling asked the court to hit pause on the reform, and the government told the judges that those two were guarding their own revenue.

The two groups behind the request are a drug-testing trade association and a pharmaceutical company that has never brought a product to market. The DOJ told the court that both of them “invoke pocketbook interests served by keeping all marijuana in Schedule I.” Their own sworn declarations, the government argued, undercut their request for a stay.

Here is the shape of it. In April, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche moved FDA-approved cannabis medicines and state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. A coalition of prohibition and drug-testing groups, two state attorneys general and a pharmaceutical developer is suing to undo that order, Kevin Sabet’s Smart Approaches to Marijuana and the attorneys general of Nebraska and Indiana among them. But the request to freeze the order while the case plays out came from just two of those parties, the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association, or NDASA, and MMJ International Holdings. The government’s answer was blunt. The petitioners, it wrote, “come nowhere near satisfying the demanding standard for that extraordinary relief.”

The Accusation, Turned Around

For over a year, the case against reform has run on a single accusation. Sabet has made it repeatedly, including in a video posted as the DEA hearing opened: the government moved on marijuana because of industry money and campaign donations from cannabis executives, not because the science changed. The July 2 brief never answers Sabet directly. But read against that year of messaging, it lands as an inversion. If this is about money, it is worth asking whose.

Their Own Declarations

The answer is in the challengers’ own paperwork. NDASA told the court that its members would lose money if employers stopped screening for marijuana. In a sworn declaration, the group’s executive director estimated that marijuana-positive results are the largest source of revenue at the medical review offices that read drug tests, and projected a revenue decline of “at least 35%” over the next 6 to 12 months if the order stands. NDASA also attached a number to what compliance would cost its members: about $700,000, spread across 700 employers. Do the arithmetic and it comes to a thousand dollars each. That is the figure the group called irreparable harm, the kind of injury that is supposed to justify a court freezing federal drug policy. A thousand dollars per employer. One cannabis attorney who reviewed the motion did the same math and called the argument “ridiculous.”

MMJ’s claim is stranger. The company says it spent eight years and $10 million developing cannabinoid drugs the proper way, through the FDA, and that rescheduling rewards state-licensed competitors who skipped that path. The problem, as the DOJ pointed out, is that MMJ has no product on the market. It has applications pending, not medicine on shelves. You cannot lose your share of a market you have not entered. Its complaint, the government argued, describes a policy it dislikes, not an injury a court can fix.

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London Police Accused of Letting Algerian Attempted Rapist Walk Free After Being Caught ‘Red Handed’ Near Buckingham Palace

London’s Metropolitan Police officers have been accused by a judge of letting an attempted rapist go after being caught “red-handed” outside Buckingham Palace, the trial of the migrant has revealed.

In the early morning of Sept 7, 2024, Algerian migrant Ramzi Barkat, 54, came upon a woman in St James’s Park, attempted to flirt with her, and when he was shot down, tackled and “straddled” her while holding down her wrists.

Fortunately for the woman, three nearby soldiers heard her screams and prevented Barkat from going further.

However, despite the apparent risk he posed to the public, police chose to release the Algerian migrant on bail or under investigation after the victim was interviewed, The Telegraph reported.

Judge Justin Cole of the Southwark Crown Court accused the police of a “catalogue of incompetencies” during the incident.

“He was simply let go in a situation in which frankly he had been caught red-handed and presented a continuing danger to the public,” Judge Cole said.

“The bottom line is this man was set free for a period of a year, a year to do what he likes, in a situation where he had attacked a lone female in a park. The public would be appalled to hear of such laxity.”

“The public would be appalled to hear of such laxity.”

The revelations came during this week’s sentencing hearing for Barkat, who was jailed for seven years and three months on Friday. Judge Coles said that Barkat “sought to take advantage of a lone vulnerable woman” and “acted like a predator”.

In addition to being found guilty of attempted rape, Barkat was also found guilty of assaulting one of the soldiers who prevented the rape, The Independent reported.

The Algerian migrant had claimed that he was merely attempting to steal the woman’s phone. On top of his prison sentence, he received a 10-year restraining order and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

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When Billion-Dollar Non-Profits Stop Looking Like Charities

AltaMed Health Services reported $1.72 billion in revenue in 2024, which is more than many publicly traded healthcare companies. Yet unlike a public corporation, the nonprofit entity answers to no shareholders, enjoys broad tax exemptions, and derives much of its revenue from taxpayer-supported healthcare programs.

AltaMed also reported $1.66 billion in assets and its revenues exceeded expenses by $68.4 million. It operates more than 70 clinics, employs roughly 5,000 people, and serves more than 700,000 patients throughout Southern California, making it one of the nation’s largest federally qualified health center (FQHC) systems.

But AltaMed’s extraordinary growth raises another question that extends far beyond Southern California: What happens when a nonprofit grows into a multibillion-dollar enterprise while retaining the governance structure of a traditional charity?

That question has become increasingly relevant as individual nonprofit hospital systems, universities, and other charitable organizations now control hundreds of billions of dollars in assets while benefiting from tax exemptions, government reimbursements, tax-deductible donations, and public financing. Their primary accountability mechanism is a board of directors charged with ensuring that charitable resources remain devoted to public benefit rather than private profits.

Since 2001, AltaMed has paid more than $32 million in compensation to its CEO, Castulo de la Rocha, his wife Zoila Escobar, and one of their sons – which is significantly higher than most of its peer FQHCs. For instance, the chief executives of Family Health Centers of San Diego, Family HealthCare Network, and Comprehensive Community Health Centers each earned substantially less than de la Rocha in 2024 despite overseeing similarly large healthcare organizations.

Following scrutiny of excessive executive pay more than a decade ago, AltaMed adopted a split-dollar life insurance loan program designed to help retain selected executives. The program has provided substantial loans to a small group of senior leaders to finance life insurance policies. Split-dollar arrangements are technically legal, although federal officials have cautioned that similar structures have been used improperly in certain tax-avoidance schemes.

Executive compensation is only one measure of nonprofit governance. Equally important is how charitable organizations deploy their resources and whether those expenditures advance the mission for which they receive tax-exempt status.

Over the past two decades, AltaMed has built one of the country’s most prominent collections of Chicano and Latino art. It says the collection supports its “Art as a Holistic Approach to Healthcare” initiative, and that artwork displayed throughout its clinics creates a more welcoming and therapeutic environment for patients.

However, AltaMed’s involvement in the arts extends far beyond decorating clinic walls – it owns a collection of approximately 4,000 works of Chicano, Mexican, and Latin American art, the value of which exceeds $6 million. It has spent as much as $2 million on art-related activities outside the United States in places like Mexico City, Rome, Berlin, and Madrid. More recently, it has supported plans for a Museum of Chicano and Mexican Art in downtown Los Angeles, spending at least $150,000 on lobbying related to the proposal.

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